Feeding mechanism



R. c. SIMMONS July 10, 1928 FEEDING MECHANI SM Original Filed Nov. 9.1922 3 Sheets-Sheet R w W m I R. c; SIMMONS FEEDING MECHANISM QriginalFiled Nov. 9. 1922 3 t t 2 Fig.2

July 10, 1928.

R. c. SIMMONS FEEDING 'MECHANI SM I Original Filed NOV.9, 1922 3Shets-Sheet 5 Patented July 10, 1928.

RALPH o. snvnvrons, or BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS; ASSIGNOB T UNITED snonMA-f' CHINERY CORPORATION, 01E PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

FEEDING MECHANISM. 7

Original application fi1ed;Nove niber 9,1922, SeriaLNo. 599,925. Dividedand this application filed January 3, 1927, Serial No. 158,745.

llhis. invention relates to feeding mech' anism. The invention isdisclosed herein as embodied. in a cutting machine. for the productionof blanks in large quantity from bsheet material. and is a division ofmy application Serial No. 599,925, filed November 9', 1922. i In theproduction of blanks from sheet material, use is commonly made, ofmachines comprising mechanism for feeding. a stack of sheets step-by-step. to cutting devices which operate intermittently upon the sheets toform a plurality of blanks at each operation. In order to render theoperations of such machines more nearly automatieand thereby to increasetheircapacity additional mechanism is provided for. feedingvstaoks ofsheets, as required, from a pile of sheets in a magazine, into position,to be fed by the first-mentioned feedingmechanism.

Considerable diflicultyhas been experienced in, the operation ofmachines of the type referred to, as heretofore constructed,

' in feeding stacks ofsheets offthe. proper height from a magazine intoposition. for

subsequent feeding movements tothe cutting devices. This difliou-ltythasarisen, from the fact that the thickness of the sheets of ma.- terialused is not uniform either with respect to different individualsheets-in the magazine orwith respect to different parts of the samesheet. This results in uncertainty in "the feeding operations. andfrequently releatherboard, from which blanks, such, as

suits in damage to the material or to the machine by relativedisplacement of the sheets'in a stack. p

In view of the above, the present inventioniprovides improved mechanismfor. feeding sheet material from a magazine which comprises a novelfeeder slide having both feeder and separator surfaces by which sheetsare properly separated from the bottom of a pile in the magazine andmoved in the desired direction. lhe illustrated machine is of the typehaving a magazine for the sheet imaterial'. such as leather or heel-liftblanks, are to be cut-and provided with, feed slide which removes one ormore sheets from the bottom of the pile in the magazine. I i

As shown, the feed slide is provided with a vertical surface torcontactwith and move sheets, from the bottom of the pile, and has av sheetseparating and supporting surface for maintaining. the unseparatedportion. of the pllein positionduring the feeding operation. f

Ithas been foundthat feed devices .of the type'referred to operate withgreater certainty when the magazine is fairly; Well.

filled, since under such conditions the sheets at the bottom of the pilewilllie practically level andinclose' contact. Hence if the pile ofsheets in the n' agazine be allowed to hecome nearly exhausted there mayoccasionally be. trouble. in the feeding due to the I failure. of asheet or sheetsv to lie level in the pile. In view of the foregoing],means is provided, therefore, for preventing operation. of the machinewhen the pile of. sheets in the magazine has reached a. predeterminedpoint of exhaustion, thus forcing the operator. to keep the magazinewell supplied with material. As shown, this means'jcomprises. a detectorelement. controlled'by.the

material in the magazine and operativein V through-connections toprevent the. initia tion. of machine operationswhenthe pile of sheetsin. the magazine sinks below a'pre determined height 7 Other features.ofthev invention and novel combinations parts will be pointed out in thedetailedv description and in the appended claims. I

In the drawings, I -Fig. 1 is a; View. in side section of a cuttingmachine illustrating the invention; i i

' Fig. 2 is an end view partly in section of the magazine and feeding.mechanism 'for stacks of 'str ps;

the partsindifferent operative relations; v

Fig. l isa plan view,.with' the stack of strips omitted, of the magazine"and feed mechanism shown. in Fig. 2; and

scribed is disclosed in the aforementioned coelevation partly in Fig.3isav1ew similar to' 2' showing .95

Fig. 5. is aview in front elevation of the loo pending application to.WlllCll reference may I be had for a more complete description of theconstruction and operation of parts notfully herein disclosed anddescribed.

In the illustrated machine there is provided a table or work support 12(Fig. 1) which is shown as the top plate of a frame l-itfor supportingthe operating parts of the machine. A feeder member 16 is operated tomove sheet material comprising a stack of strips S step-by-step to acutter or knife 18 which is actuated to sever, from the end of the stackof strips, a pile of sections, the strips being held during-theoperation of the cutter by a clamping member 19. As the sections are cutthey are aligned vertically against an end gage 20 so that upon upwardmovement of a plate 22 the sections are forced upon the cutting edge ofa die 2 1 whereby blanks are cut from the sections and are forcedupwardly through the die into a 7 magazine 26.

The feeder member 16 is mounted upona plate 28 (Figs. 1 and at) adaptedto fit in and slide along a guide slot 30 which extends the greater partof the length of the top 7 plate 12. The plate 28 is secured to anendless chain 32 arranged to run around sprocket Wheels Set and 86mounted in bearings in the frame 1-1, the chain being arrangedto bedriven in either direction by means of a gear wheel 88 operativelyconnected to a motor driven shaft 10. In moving the feeder member 16step-by-step toward the cutter 18, the gear wheel 38 is rotatedintermittently by means of a ratchet wheel 12 and pawl 14 actuated by acam 4-6 driven by the shaft 40. I In moving the feeder member 16 awayfrom the cutter 18 into position for feeding a fresh pile of strips, useis made of a gear 48 for rotating the gear wheel 38 in a reversedirection. The gear 48 is mounted on a shaft 50 arranged to beintermittently rotated by the shaft 40 through mechanism comprising aclutch 52 which is con trolled by a control member or hand lever 54..The arrangement of parts is such that manual operation of the controlmember-'54 renders the clutch 52 operative and initiates a continuousmovement of the feeder member 16 away from the cutter 18 into fullyretracted position, followed by a step-bystep movement of the feedingmember toward the cutter.

Means is provided for separating the stack of strips S from the. bottomof a pile of strips S in a magazine 55, and for moving them in atransverse direction into the path of. the

' feeder member 16 prior to the feeding-in movement of the latter. Tothis end, the illustrated machine is provided with a feed slide 56(Figs. 2, 3, 4: and 5). secured to slide neml ors 58 which move ingrooves in the top surface of the table. Immediately after the return ofthe feeder member 16 to its initial position atthe left of the table, asshown in Figs. 1 and at, the slide 56 is reciprocated to move the stackof strips into position directly over the slot 30 in the table and toreturn to initial position whereupon the feeder member 16 becomesoperative to advance the stack intermittently toward the knife 18.Conveniently the slide 56 is operated from the shaft 50 through the camwheel 60 which is provided with a cam slot 62 to receive a roll 61 (Fig.2) on a lever 66 pivotally mounted at 68 in the frame'of the machine andhaving its upper end forked pivotally to receive a block 70 slidableupon a rod 72 and pivotally connected at one end to an arm 76' extendingdownwardly from the slide members 58. Carried by the rod 72 is anadjustable collar 78 with'which one end of the block 70 contacts sothat'upon motion of the upper end of the lever 66 to the left in Fig. 2the feeder block 70 is positively returned to initial position, therebeing interposed between the other end of the block 70 and a collar 80on the end of the rod 72 a spring 82 so I that upon movement of theupper end of the lever 66 to the right in Fi 2 the feeder slide 56 ismoved yieldingly to advance the stack of strips into position to be fedby the member 16.

In order that the slide members 58 may operate simultaneously and to thesame extent in the operation of feeding the stack of strips in adirection transversely of their widths, there is provided a rock shaft88 (Fig. 2) mounted on bars 90 extending rearwardly from, the front sideof the frame of the machine, the said rock shaft having a plurality ofarms 92 fixedly secured thereto and extending upwardly from the rockshaft 88 and having pivotally connected at their upper ends links 94:the other ends of which are pivotally connected to the arms 76projecting downwardly from the slide members 58. It will be understoodthat the link 94 which is in alignment with the rod 72 serves as a partof the connecting link in the power means for rotating the shaft 88.

The magazine 55, as shown in Fig. 2. comprises positioning members 98secured to the top plate 12 at the front of the machine and two endmembers 100, 102 of which the former is preferably adjustable as bybolts and slots in the supporting plate 104, as clearly shown in Fig. 4of the drawings.

In the feeding of agiven number of strips in a widthwise direction fromthe lower end of a pile of strips, considerable difficulty is oftenencountereddue to the fact that the strips vary somewhat in thicknessand this difference in thickness occurs not only as between individualstrips but in various parts of the same strip. It will be clear thenthat if plurality of feed fingers should be used, there would be likelyto occur a disarrangement of the strip or strips at the top level of thestack of strips being separated, in

no I

i on

struction or damage to the machine.

which. one end-.of a, strip at the level; of separation of the stripswouldbemovedforwardly by: one finger in the feeding operationwhile theother end. would lag behind due to the fact that it is. not engaged bythe other feed fingers. operation would result in uncertainty'in thefeeding operations and be almost certainly the cause. of damage to thematerial and 0b- The difliculties incidental, to, widthwise feeding ofstrips, of material from. the bottom of a stack are overcome by theprovision .of the member 56'which, asjshown most clearly in Fig. 4 ofthe drawings, is provided with a convexly shapedsurface 110; forcontacting with. the piled strips along a vertical line near thelongitudinal center thereof, the construction and arrangement being suchthatcontact with the bottom surface of the strip nextabove those beingmoved begins adjacent tofthe said lin of: Contact and spreads fromeither side of said line, toward the ends of the member56. By thisconstruction of, the

memberfifi any strip adjacent to the level of theplane of-separation ofthe strips which is started in the feeding direction will be carriedforward. with the stack which is being separated, and the. stripsuperjacent' thereto even if certain of itsportions are below thehorizontal; level of the upper surface of the member 56 will be left inplace in the magazine as the feeding member moves forwardly under said;superjacent strip, since the latter is lifted or wedged upwardly in theadvance of' the feeding member. Opposed to the positioning members 98are two or more. positioning memhere 112 which constitute the rear sideof; the magazine 55. As shown, the positioning members 112 are spaced;from the table a distance. corresponding more or less. closely tothe'height of the stackof stripswhich it is desired' to move intofeeding position. Consequently, the members 112 are provided with offsetvertical portions 11 which serve to supporta block plate 116 to limitthe movement of the stack of; strips in a widthwise direction in suchmanner that the said stack is properly positioned for the operation ofthe feeding-in member 16. The said members 112 also carry atop guardpiece 118 which prevents'upward displacement of the strips.

I In view of the differences in the thicknes'ses of strips asalreadydiscussedin the tion with the feedslide 56-, the said sepa rator meansin :the illustrative construction comprising yielding gate members 120'(at least two in number), the lower ends of' which are in a plane toengage the topmost strip of the stack being separated and to be movedupwardly thereby so as. to be sure Such, a mode of" to engage-the stripnext superjacent to. the

topmost strip engaged by the feed' slide 56 tofhold the said strip;against-movement with the stack being .separatedlby the feedslide. Ifthe said gate members 120,01:

either-ofthem, shouldengage thetopmost strip being fed in by the feedslide, each gate isfso.constructed: as to yield. upwardly until itdisengages said strip. By thisconr struction the feed slide is enabledto feed in the: proper. number of strips, without displacement of thestrips in the magazineand ment 130 whichoperates tolimit the-move mentof thegate memberin downward direction. While the gatemembers 120 may beweighted so that theyv may interpose suffi; cient resistanceito movementof-the. strips in the. magazine; there is preferably provided aspring-pressedplunger, 132 which-operates upon an arm 1'34;extendingrearwardly, from the link 122. 'Pres'sureagainst the uprightface of the gate member 120 is transmitted to, the plunger 132 whichresiststhe move; ment but is properly; tensi'oned toyieldiaftelf thegatemember has served its proper function of separatingthe. strips byholding back those above the. stackbeing fed-by the feed slidev 56.Since; the .verticality of the, gate is maintained. by the linkmountingil-described its lower endretains allits effectiyenessthroughout ltsimovementasa separating means for the layers .or sheetsofmaterial. The co-operation of the feed slide 56: and they yielding gatemembers, 120 i in separatinga predetermined number of strips tocompriseth'e stack; WlllCh' is later to be fed in an endwisedirection bythe feeding: lIl member 16 13 of the greatest lmportance since thefeeding of either one more: or

its

one less than the predetermined number would result in obstruction or inimproper operatlon of the machine. In this connection 1t 1s pointed outthat if a smaller. 1111111:

ber of stripsbe provided in the. stackto be fed by the feeding-in member16 thanthat for which. the machine is. set, there will be 4 failuretocut the stripsproperly dueto. im;

perfect'operation of the clamping member 19. in its co -operation withthe cutter 18! By the use of the. magazine herein; described theoperator is enabledto. provide a{ sufli:

cientnumber of-st-rips, for a. number of cycles of the machine so-thatplenty @of, time Will be. afforded for exchanging empty magazinesv forthose, filled with blanks at. the dieing out end;.of the machine; v

7 It. is desirable-that the 'pile of; sheetsor strips in the magazine benot allowed to height in the magazine for the reason that the separatingdevices comprising the feed slide 56 and'the gates 120 work to betteradvantage when there is a certain pressure on the material from above.lvloreover, the sheets or strips at the bottom of the pile are much moreapt to lie evenly and to be in close contact with each other if the pilebe of a considerable height. To insure the best working conditions forthe strip separating and feeding means, there is provided a detectormechanism which will warn the operator of the approaching exhaustion ofthe supply in the magazine. It may operate to lock the starting means ofthe machine against operation so that the operator must maintain acertain height of material in the magaizne. Upon reference to Fig. 2 oneembodiment of the detector means is disclosed as consisting of adetector member 136 which is adapted to project through an opening 138in the magazine member 98 under the propelling force exerted by spring140. lVhen additional strips or sheets of material are introduced fromabove, certain of them will contact with the rounded end 1&2 of thedetector member 136 and force the latter out of the path of the sheetsor strips so that the latter may descend in the magazine without anyobstructive effect from the detector member. As soon, however, as thepile of strips or sheets sinks below'the level of the detector memberthe latter is projected into the magazine through the op-- eration ofthe spring 140 and during. this movement of the detector member a stop144 is positioned in the path of the controller lever 54 so that thelatter cannot be moved in a direction to initiate further operations ofthe machine while the stack of strips or sheets in the magazine is belowthe predetermined level fixed by the end of the detector member 136. Inthe construction shown, the stop 1 14 is part of a lever 146 which ispivoted at 1 18 on the magazine member 98 and connected at its upper endpivotally to the detector member 136.

Having described my application, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a machine of thecharacter described, a magazine for sheets of material to be operatedupon, meansfor feeding sheets from the bottom of the pile in themagazine, and

7 means for preventing initiation of machine operations when the pile ofsheets sinks be- ,low a predetermined level in the magazine.

2. In a machine of the character described, a magazine for sheets ofmaterial to be operated upon, means for feeding sheets from the bottomof the pile in the magazine, and a detector means movable upon a sheetin the magazine which sinks below a predetermined level for preventinginitiation of machine operations;

3. In a machine of the character described a magazine for holding a pileof sheets to be operated upon by the machine, said machine having acontrol member for initiating machine operations, a stop movable intoand out of position to prevent operation of the control member, and a.detector element having connections with the stop and operable toposition the stop in operative position with relation to the controlmember when the stack of sheets in the magazine has sunk below apredetermined level.

l. In a machine of the character described, a magazine for sheets ofmaterial to be operated upon, means for feeding sheets from the pile inthe magazine, and means controlled by the pile of sheets in the magazine for preventing initiation of machine operations when the pile ofsheets sinks below a predetermined level in the magazine.

5. In a machine of the character described, a magazine for sheets ofmaterial to be operated upon, means for feeding sheets from the pile inthe magazine, and a detector member movable into the magazine upon thesheet-s in the magazine sinking below a predetermined level and havingconnections for preventing initiation of machine operations. I

6. In a machine of the character described, a magazine for holdinga'pile of sheets to be operated upon by the machine, said machine havinga control member for initiating machine operations, a stop movable intoand'out of position to prevent operation of the control member, and adetector element arranged to be controlled by the pile of sheets'in themagazine, said detector element having connections with the stop andbeing operable to position the stop in operative position when the stackof sheets in the magazine has sunk below a predetermined level.

7. In a feeding means of the character described, a magazine formaterial in superposed layers, means for feeding layers from themagazine, and a vertically-arranged gate adapted to yield upwardly awayfrom the layer or layers being moved by the feeding means whilemaintaining its verticality so that its lower end retains all itseffectiveness as a separating means for the layers, the

feeding means having means for supporting layers above those being movedby the feeding means.

8. In a feeding means of the character described, a magazine formaterial in layers, a feed slide having a surface for contacting withthe layers to be fed to move the same and having further a surface toseparate the layers moved by the first surface from the layerssuperjacent thereto and to support the layers in the magazine abovethose separated during the action of the'feed slide.

, .9. In a feeding means of the character described, a magazine for apile of sheets, a feed slide operating to remove sheets from the bottomof the pile and having a surface for supporting the remainder 'of thesheets in the pile, a gate member positioned at the other'side of themagazine for co-operation with the feed slide to insure the separationof a stack of'shee'ts of predetermined height,

- and means for supporting the gate member for movement of translationin a vertical direction. f

10. In a feeding means of the character described, a magazine formaterial in superposed layers, and a feed slide havinga feed surface forcontacting With the layers to be fed-and a convexly shaped surface forsep arating one or more layers from the pile and for supporting thelayers in the magazine above those separated through the action oflayersabove the feed slide for co-operating With the feed slide toinsure the separation of a predeterminednumber of layers.

12. In a feeding means of the class described, a magazine for a pile ofsheet material, a feed slide having a vertical surface to contact withand move sheets from the bottom of the pile, said slide having a sheetseparating surface operative to'separate the sheets engaged by thevertical surface during the feeding opera tion fr'om those superjacentthereto, and'a gate member co-operating With thefeed slide to separatesheets '45, 13. In a feeding means ,of the character from the pile. 1

described, a magazine for sheet material, a'

feed slide for separating sheets from the pile in the magazine andhaving a surface for supporting sheets not .to besepara'ted from thepile, a'vertically-arranged gate for cooperation with the feed slide,and, a pair of parallel links for movably supporting the gate andcausing it to engage sheets support ed by the feed slide during theseparating operation on the sheets.

14. In a feeding means of the class described, a magazine for a pile ofsheet material, a feed slide having a vertical surface to contact withand move sheets from the bottom of the pile, said slide having a sheetseparating and supporting surface for maintaining the unseparatedportion of the'pile lIlPlOPBl position during the feeding operation, andgate members cooperating withthe' feed slide to separa'tea stackofsheetsffrom the pile.

15. In a described, a magazine, means for. separating and feeding sheetsfrom the pile in the magfeeding means of the character Y azine havingmeans for supporting the.

sheets in the pile Which are not fed during a feeding operation, avertically-arranged gatefor co-operation" With the separating andfeedingmeans, and a pair of parallel links for movably supporting the gate andcausing it to maintainits verticality during movement toseparatesheetsfrom the pile.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this' specification.

RALPH o. summons

